Taxi, Rickshaw union calls for strike on Tuesday

The Jai Bhagwan Taxi Rickshaw Sanghatana (JBTRS), a relatively obscure organisation whose agitation at Azad Maidan last month had turned violent, has called for a fresh strike on Tuesday.

The leader of JBTRS, Balasaheb Sanap, has said that its June 21 agitation had been sabotaged by other transport unions that were jealous of the strike’s success rate. “Last time, our protests were mostly peaceful but we created an impact in areas like South Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and the eastern suburbs. This did not go down well with some other unions, which we suspect sent the men who attacked an Ola cab as well as a media vehicle,” said Mr Sanap.

The agitation on Tuesday (July 26) will be a continuation of the June 21 strike where they had given an open ultimatum to the state and the central government to bring application-based radio taxi services like Ola and Uber under the ambit of the law. “They have been flouting all kinds of rules like working on tourist permits, and some of them are not under any kind of governmental control at all,” Mr Sanap alleged.

Transport minister Diwakar Roate had, during the Legislative Assembly session held on July 22, said that a new law for private taxi operators would be passed by the end of the Monsoon Session. The Opposition, including leader Nitesh Rane, who himself heads the non-governmental organisation Swabhiman Sanghatana, had raised the question to the minister, regarding the steps being taken to bring app-based taxi services under the ambit of the law.